How many exercises should you do per workout for the best results? There isn’t one single answer. The right number of exercises depends a lot on your goals, how much time you have, how often you train, and your fitness level. For most people aiming for muscle growth or general fitness, doing between 3 to 6 different exercises per workout is a good starting point. This allows you to work different muscle groups effectively without making the workout too long or tiring. However, this number changes based on whether you are doing a full body workout, a split routine, or focusing on just one or two muscle groups. Finding the optimal number of exercises per workout means balancing effectiveness with recovery and time.
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Grasping the Basics: Why the Number Matters
Choosing the right number of exercises is key to an efficient workout. Doing too few exercises might mean you don’t work your muscles enough. Doing too many can lead to tiredness, poor form, and even injury. It can also make your workout last too long. The goal is to hit your muscles enough to cause change without overdoing it. This balance is crucial for seeing good progress, whether you want bigger muscles, more strength, or better health.
Factors Shaping Your Exercise Count
Many things influence how many exercises you should include in your training session. Thinking about these factors helps you find your perfect number.
Your Training Goals
What do you want to achieve?
* Muscle Growth (Hypertrophy): You need enough workout volume (total work done). This usually means hitting muscles with different types of exercises and sets.
* Strength: Focus on heavy lifting with compound movements. Fewer exercises might be needed per muscle group, but you’ll do more sets on those main lifts.
* Endurance: Higher reps with lighter weight across various exercises. The total number might be higher for a full-body endurance circuit.
* General Fitness/Health: A balanced approach, hitting major muscle groups with a moderate number of exercises.
Your Fitness Level
- Beginners: Should start with fewer exercises. This helps you learn proper form and lets your body get used to training. Focusing on a few key movements is better than trying too many things at once.
- Intermediate/Advanced: Can handle more exercises and higher workout volume. Their bodies are more used to the stress of training and recover faster.
The Type of Workout Split
How you divide your training during the week greatly affects the exercises per muscle group in a single session.
- Full Body: You work every major muscle group in one session. This means fewer full body workout exercises per muscle group, but more total exercises in the workout.
- Split Routine: You focus on specific muscles or body parts each day. This means more exercises per muscle group on the days you train them, but fewer total exercises compared to a full body day. Examples include Upper/Lower, Push/Pull/Legs, or Body Part splits.
How Much Time You Have
A good workout should not take forever. Most people aim for 45 to 75 minutes. If you have less time, you might need to do fewer exercises. If you have more time, you can add more, but always keep the training intensity high and avoid just resting too much.
Workout Volume and Training Intensity
These two go hand-in-hand. Workout volume is roughly sets x reps x weight. Training intensity relates to how hard you push yourself (e.g., lifting heavy or going close to muscle failure).
- If you lift very heavy (high intensity), you might do fewer sets and exercises because each set takes a lot out of you.
- If you do more reps with lighter weight (lower intensity but maybe still high effort), you can often do more exercises.
- Increasing volume (more sets or exercises) is a key way to promote exercises for muscle growth, but too much too soon can hurt recovery.
Different Workout Structures Explained
Let’s look at how the number of exercises often changes based on your workout plan.
Full Body Workout Exercises
In a full body workout, you train all major muscle groups in one session. Since you need to hit chest, back, legs, shoulders, and arms, you’ll do exercises that cover all these areas.
- How many exercises? Typically 5 to 8 exercises.
- Focus: Often focuses on compound movements that work multiple muscles at once.
- Example Exercises: Squats (legs), Bench Press (chest, shoulders, triceps), Rows (back, biceps), Overhead Press (shoulders, triceps), Deadlifts (back, legs). You might add one or two isolation exercises like bicep curls or tricep extensions.
- Exercises per muscle group: Only 1 or 2 exercises per major group because you need to cover the whole body.
- Good for: Beginners, people who can only train 2-3 times per week, general fitness.
Table 1: Example Full Body Workout Exercise Count
| Muscle Group | Example Exercises | Number of Exercises |
|---|---|---|
| Legs | Squats, Romanian Deadlifts | 2 |
| Chest | Bench Press | 1 |
| Back | Barbell Rows | 1 |
| Shoulders | Overhead Press | 1 |
| Biceps | Bicep Curls | 1 |
| Triceps | Triceps Pushdowns | 1 |
| Total | Overall Workout | 7 |
Note: This is just an example. Exercise selection can vary.
Split Routine Exercises
Split routines break up training into different days for different muscle groups or body areas. This allows for more focus and exercises per muscle group on the days they are trained.
- How many exercises? The total number per workout is often similar to full body (maybe 4-8), but the number per muscle group is much higher on the days those muscles are trained.
Here are common split routines:
Upper/Lower Split
- Structure: Train upper body one day (chest, back, shoulders, arms), lower body the next (legs, glutes, sometimes abs). You might train 4 days a week (Upper, Lower, Rest, Upper, Lower).
- Upper Body Day: Focuses on pushing (chest, shoulders, triceps) and pulling (back, biceps).
- Exercises: 5-8 exercises total. This might break down to 2-3 for chest, 2-3 for back, 1-2 for shoulders, and 1-2 for arms.
- Exercises per muscle group: 1-3 depending on the specific muscle and exercise type (compound vs. isolation).
- Lower Body Day: Focuses on quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves.
- Exercises: 4-7 exercises total. This might be 2-3 for quads/hamstrings, 1-2 for glutes, 1-2 for calves.
- Exercises per muscle group: 2-4 for the main leg muscles.
- Good for: Intermediate lifters, people who can train 3-4 times per week. Allows for more volume on specific body parts.
Table 2: Example Upper/Lower Split Exercise Counts
| Workout Type | Muscle Groups Trained | Total Exercises | Exercises per Main Muscle Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Body | Chest, Back, Shoulders, Arms | 6-8 | 1-3 |
| Lower Body | Quads, Hamstrings, Glutes, Calves | 4-7 | 2-4 |
Push/Pull/Legs Split (PPL)
- Structure: Day 1: Push exercises (chest, shoulders, triceps). Day 2: Pull exercises (back, biceps, rear delts). Day 3: Legs (quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves). You can run this 3 or 6 days a week (Push, Pull, Legs, Rest, Push, Pull, Legs).
- Push Day: Focuses on movements where you push weight away from your body.
- Exercises: 5-8 exercises total. Might be 2-3 for chest, 2-3 for shoulders, 1-2 for triceps.
- Exercises per muscle group: 1-3.
- Pull Day: Focuses on movements where you pull weight towards your body.
- Exercises: 5-8 exercises total. Might be 3-4 for back, 2-3 for biceps, 1 for rear delts.
- Exercises per muscle group: 1-4.
- Leg Day: Same as Lower Body day in Upper/Lower split.
- Exercises: 4-7 exercises total.
- Exercises per muscle group: 2-4 for the main leg muscles.
- Good for: Intermediate to advanced lifters, people who can train 3-6 times per week. Offers high frequency and volume potential.
Table 3: Example Push/Pull/Legs Split Exercise Counts
| Workout Type | Muscle Groups Trained | Total Exercises | Exercises per Main Muscle Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Push | Chest, Shoulders, Triceps | 5-8 | 1-3 |
| Pull | Back, Biceps, Rear Delts | 5-8 | 1-4 |
| Legs | Quads, Hamstrings, Glutes, Calves | 4-7 | 2-4 |
Body Part Split
- Structure: Each workout focuses on only one or two muscle groups (e.g., Monday: Chest, Tuesday: Back, Wednesday: Legs, Thursday: Shoulders, Friday: Arms).
- Exercises: Since you are spending a whole session on just one or two areas, you will do many exercises per muscle group.
- Exercises: 6-10+ exercises total in a single workout. If training one muscle group, that’s 6-10+ exercises for that single group. If training two, maybe 3-5 per group.
- Exercises per muscle group: High, often 3-6+ for larger muscles like back or legs, or 3-5 for smaller ones like biceps or triceps.
- Good for: Advanced lifters, bodybuilders focused on maximizing exercises for muscle growth for specific body parts, people who can train 4-6 times per week. Requires good recovery.
Table 4: Example Body Part Split Exercise Counts
| Workout Type | Muscle Groups Trained | Total Exercises | Exercises per Muscle Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chest Day | Chest | 6-8 | 6-8 |
| Back Day | Back | 6-10 | 6-10 |
| Leg Day | Quads, Hams, Glutes | 8-12 | 8-12 (across all leg areas) |
| Shoulder Day | Shoulders | 6-8 | 6-8 |
| Arms Day | Biceps, Triceps | 6-8 | 3-4 per muscle |
Exercises for Muscle Growth: Finding the Sweet Spot
For exercises for muscle growth, also known as hypertrophy, the total workout volume is very important. This means doing enough sets and reps. The number of exercises plays a big part in total volume.
- Compound Lifts First: Start with heavy compound exercises (like squats, deadlifts, bench press, rows, overhead press). These use many muscles and allow you to lift heavier weight, building a strong base. You might do 1-3 compound exercises per muscle group or area.
- Add Isolation Lifts: After compound lifts, you can add isolation exercises (like bicep curls, triceps extensions, lateral raises, leg extensions) to target specific muscles further. You might do 1-3 isolation exercises per muscle group.
- Total Exercise Count for Hypertrophy: This will depend heavily on the split.
- Full Body: 1-2 exercises per muscle group, focusing on compounds mostly. (5-8 total exercises).
- Upper/Lower or PPL: 2-4 exercises per muscle group on the training day. This allows for more volume through adding isolation lifts. (4-8 total exercises per workout).
- Body Part Split: 3-6+ exercises for the muscle group being trained. This allows for hitting the muscle from many angles and high volume. (6-10+ total exercises per workout).
The goal for muscle growth is to achieve enough workout volume for each muscle group per week. You can get this volume from fewer exercises done more often (like full body or upper/lower 3-4x/week) or from more exercises done less often for that muscle (like a body part split 1x/week). The optimal number of exercises per workout for growth fits into your weekly plan to hit this target volume.
Determining Your Optimal Number
Finding the right number of exercises is a personal journey. It’s about finding what works best for you over time.
Start Simple
If you are new, begin with a low number of exercises, maybe 4-6 compound movements in a full body routine done 2-3 times a week. Learn the movements well.
Consider Your Time Limit
Be realistic about how long you can train. A workout with 10 exercises might sound good, but if it takes 2 hours and you can only spare 1 hour, it’s not practical or an efficient workout. Aim for a number that fits your schedule.
Track Your Progress
Are you getting stronger? Are your muscles growing? If yes, your current number of exercises is probably working. If not, you might need to add more exercises or sets (increase workout volume), increase training intensity, or change your workout structure.
Listen to Your Body
Are you overly tired? Not recovering? Getting aches and pains? You might be doing too many exercises or too much volume. It might be time to reduce the number or intensity. Recovery is just as important as the training itself.
Focus on Quality
Doing 5 exercises with good form and effort is much better than doing 10 exercises poorly. Make sure every rep counts. Quality is more important than the total number. This is key to an efficient workout.
Think About Exercises Per Muscle Group Weekly
Instead of just how many exercises in one workout, think about how many sets and exercises a muscle group gets per week. For muscle growth, hitting a muscle group with 10-20 sets per week is a common guideline. You can spread these sets across multiple exercises and multiple workouts.
- Example: If you do 3 sets per exercise, to get 15 sets for your chest in a week:
- Full Body (3x/week): You might do 1-2 chest exercises (3-6 sets) in each workout. 3 workouts x (1-2 exercises x 3 sets) = 9-18 sets per week.
- Body Part Split (1x/week): You would do 5 chest exercises with 3 sets each in that one chest workout. 5 exercises x 3 sets = 15 sets per week.
Both approaches can work. The best one depends on your preference, recovery, and how often you can train. The optimal number of exercises per workout supports your weekly volume goal.
Crafting Your Efficient Workout
An efficient workout gets the most results in the time you have. The number of exercises is a big part of this.
- Prioritize Compound Lifts: Start your workout with the exercises that use the most muscles and allow you to lift the most weight (squats, deadlifts, bench, rows, overhead press). These provide the most bang for your buck and should take up a good portion of your exercise count (often 2-4 exercises per workout).
- Add Isolation as Needed: Use isolation exercises to bring up weaker areas, add extra volume to a muscle group after compound lifts, or target specific parts of a muscle. These usually make up the remaining exercises (1-4 exercises per workout depending on the split).
- Don’t Fear Fewer Exercises: A workout with 3-4 heavy compound exercises can be incredibly effective for strength and muscle if you push hard on those lifts. You don’t always need a long list of movements.
- Warm-up and Cool-down: Remember to include time for warming up (dynamic stretches, light cardio) and cooling down (static stretches). These are not typically counted in the “exercises per workout” number focused on lifting, but are vital parts of the session.
The Role of Workout Duration
The length of your workout naturally limits the number of exercises. If each exercise takes 5-10 minutes (including sets, reps, and rest between sets), you can estimate:
- 30-minute workout: Maybe 3-4 exercises.
- 45-minute workout: Maybe 4-6 exercises.
- 60-minute workout: Maybe 5-8 exercises.
- 75+ minute workout: Maybe 7-10+ exercises (often for body part splits or very high volume training).
Pushing a strength training workout beyond 75-90 minutes often leads to tiredness and a drop in performance and training intensity. It might be better to increase the number of training days per week rather than cramming too many exercises into one long session. Keeping your workout duration manageable is key to staying consistent.
Common Mistakes Related to Exercise Count
- Doing Too Many Exercises: This leads to long workouts, less effort per exercise, poor recovery, and higher risk of burnout or injury.
- Doing Too Few Exercises (for goals): If you want muscle growth but only do one light exercise per muscle group once a week, you won’t provide enough stimulus.
- Adding Exercises Randomly: Each exercise should have a purpose. Are you adding it to hit a muscle from a new angle? To add volume? To work on a weakness?
- Copying Others: What works for a pro bodybuilder doing a body part split with 10 exercises for chest might be way too much for a beginner or someone with limited time. Find your own optimal number of exercises per workout.
Building a Plan: Exercises Per Muscle Group Examples
Let’s look at how exercises per muscle group might look in practice for someone focused on exercises for muscle growth.
Assume the goal is ~15 sets per muscle group per week. Each exercise is done for 3 sets.
-
Option 1: Full Body (3x/week)
- Workout A: Squats, Bench Press, Rows, Overhead Press, Bicep Curl, Triceps Extension (6 exercises total)
- Workout B: Deadlifts, Overhead Press, Pull-ups, Dips, Leg Press, Calf Raises (6 exercises total)
- Workout C: Front Squats, Incline Press, Barbell Rows, Lateral Raises, Hammer Curls, Skullcrushers (6 exercises total)
- Exercises per muscle group per workout: 1-2 main exercises + sometimes 1 isolation.
- Sets per muscle group per week: Chest ~9 (3 exercises x 3 sets spread over 3 days), Back ~18, Legs ~18, Shoulders ~9, Arms ~9-18 depending on if compounds counted. You might adjust exercise selection slightly to balance this.
-
Option 2: Upper/Lower (4x/week)
- Upper A: Bench Press, Incline Dumbbell Press, Barbell Rows, Pull-ups, Overhead Press, Lateral Raises, Bicep Curls, Triceps Pushdowns (8 exercises total)
- Lower A: Squats, Romanian Deadlifts, Leg Press, Leg Curls, Calf Raises (5 exercises total)
- Upper B: Overhead Press, Dips, Seated Cable Rows, Lat Pulldowns, Hammer Curls, Overhead Triceps Extension (6 exercises total)
- Lower B: Deadlifts, Front Squats, Lunges, Leg Extensions, Glute Bridges (5 exercises total)
- Exercises per muscle group per workout: Upper: 2-3 for chest/back/shoulders, 1-2 for arms. Lower: 2-3 for quads/hams/glutes.
- Sets per muscle group per week: Chest ~12 (2 exercises x 3 sets per upper workout x 2 workouts), Back ~12, Shoulders ~12, Arms ~6-12, Legs ~12-15 (4-5 exercises x 3 sets per lower workout x 2 workouts).
-
Option 3: Body Part Split (5x/week)
- Monday (Chest): Bench Press, Incline Press, Decline Press, Dumbbell Flyes, Cable Crossovers (5 exercises total for chest)
- Tuesday (Back): Deadlifts, Pull-ups, Barbell Rows, Seated Cable Rows, Face Pulls, Lat Pulldowns (6 exercises total for back)
- Wednesday (Legs): Squats, Leg Press, Leg Extensions, Leg Curls, Glute Bridges, Calf Raises (6 exercises total for legs)
- Thursday (Shoulders): Overhead Press, Arnold Press, Lateral Raises, Front Raises, Rear Delt Flyes (5 exercises total for shoulders)
- Friday (Arms): Bicep Curls (3 types), Triceps Extensions (3 types) (6 exercises total for arms – 3 per muscle)
- Exercises per muscle group per workout: Chest: 5. Back: 6. Legs: 6. Shoulders: 5. Arms: 3 per muscle.
- Sets per muscle group per week: Chest ~15 (5 exercises x 3 sets x 1 workout), Back ~18, Legs ~18, Shoulders ~15, Arms ~9 per muscle.
As you can see, the number of exercises per muscle group and the total exercises per workout change a lot based on the workout structure. All these examples can lead to growth if done with sufficient training intensity and progression.
The Principle of Progressive Overload
No matter how many exercises you do, you must get better over time. This is called progressive overload. It means doing a little more than last time. This could be:
* Lifting more weight.
* Doing more reps with the same weight.
* Doing more sets.
* Doing the same work in less time.
* Doing a harder version of an exercise.
Simply doing more exercises without also trying to improve on each one won’t lead to the best gains. The optimal number of exercises per workout is the number that allows you to perform each exercise effectively and continue applying progressive overload over weeks and months.
Summarizing for Best Gains
So, how many exercises per workout for the best gains?
- Beginners: Start small, maybe 4-6 compound exercises per full body workout (2-3 times a week).
- Intermediate/Advanced:
- Full Body (2-3x/week): 5-8 exercises.
- Upper/Lower or PPL (3-4x/week): 4-8 exercises per workout. This allows for more exercises per muscle group on their specific training days.
- Body Part Split (4-6x/week): 6-10+ exercises per workout, with high exercises per muscle group focus.
- For Muscle Growth: Focus on getting enough weekly workout volume per muscle group (often 10-20 sets). The number of exercises per workout fits into this. Prioritize compound lifts, then add isolation exercises.
- For an Efficient Workout: Choose a number of exercises that lets you work hard, keep good form, and finish your workout in a reasonable workout duration (often 45-75 minutes).
The key is to find a number that lets you consistently challenge your muscles, recover properly, and stick to your plan. Experiment, track, and adjust based on your results and how you feel.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Is doing more exercises better for muscle growth?
Not always. Doing too many exercises can reduce the quality of your sets due to fatigue. It can also make your workouts too long and hurt recovery. It’s better to do the right amount of workout volume spread across an optimal number of exercises per workout that you can perform effectively.
How many exercises per muscle group should I do?
This depends on your split. In a full body workout, maybe 1-2 exercises per muscle group. In a split routine, it could be 2-4+ exercises on the day that muscle group is trained. The total number of exercises per muscle group per week is more important for growth than the number in a single session.
Can I do just 3 exercises per workout and still get results?
Yes, absolutely, especially if they are compound exercises (like squats, bench press, deadlifts). For beginners, this is a great start. For advanced people, 3-4 heavy compound exercises with multiple sets can be a very effective, though intense, workout focusing on strength and building a strong base for exercises for muscle growth.
How many exercises are too many for a workout?
For most people doing strength training, more than 10-12 exercises in a single session is often too much. This typically makes the workout duration too long (over 75-90 minutes) and can reduce training intensity and focus on later exercises. Listen to your body; if you feel exhausted or performance drops sharply, you might be doing too many.
Does the type of exercise matter for the count?
Yes. Compound exercises work many muscles at once, so you might need fewer of them to cover muscle groups compared to using only isolation exercises. An efficient workout usually includes a mix, starting with compounds.
How do I find my optimal number of exercises per workout?
Start with a basic number (e.g., 5-7 for a typical split workout). See how you feel, if you can complete the workout with good form, how long it takes, and if you are progressing over time. Adjust up or down based on your experience, recovery, and results. It takes some trial and error. The optimal number of exercises per workout changes as you progress.